1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus capable of reading image information and place-name information from an image recording medium and displaying the read image information and place-name information.
2. Description of Related Art
A film including a photographing film portion having a magnetic recording portion has recently been proposed, and various information can be recorded on the film together with a photographed image.
A camera capable of digitally recording not only image information but also various information has also been proposed, and one representative example of such camera is a digital camera.
There have been users who desire that such a camera should have the function of recording a place name for each photograph so that they can confirm where each photograph is taken. This is because a user who visits and photographs, for example, many temples occasionally confuses place names among similar photographed temples at a later time.
To meet the above-described demand, the following types of cameras and the like have heretofore been proposed.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 6-110117 proposes a camera which has a place-name data table and data selecting means and is arranged to select and specify place-name information and magnetically record a place name on a magnetically recordable type of film.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 7-077737 proposes a camera which receives absolute-position information such as latitude and longitude through radio waves transmitted from satellites, converts the absolute-position information into a place name in accordance with tabulated place-name data, and records the place name on a film.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 8-240854 proposes a filing apparatus which has a geographic database and is capable of converting position information recorded on a film into a place name.
However, according to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 6-110117, a photographer must carry the burden of manually specifying a place name during photography. In addition, since the camera has the place-name data table, the camera needs a huge storage capacity.
According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 7-077737, a photographer must similarly carry the burden of manually specifying a place name on the basis of absolute-position information during photography. In addition, since the camera has the place-name data table, the camera needs a huge storage capacity.
In contrast, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 8-240854, since the filing apparatus has a geographic database, a camera does not need a large storage capacity. However, a user needs to perform conversion to a place name each time he/she takes a photograph, and must perform an awkward operation for this purpose. In addition, since a converted place name and image information are respectively recorded on separate media, the image information recorded on one medium may not accurately reflect the converted place name recorded on another medium. Moreover, although individual users have different tastes as to the manner in which position information is converted into a place name, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 8-240854 has no description to cope with such a demand. For example, if individual users are to convert xe2x80x9cLONGITUDE 139xc2x041xe2x80x206xe2x80x3xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cLATITUDE 35xc2x033xe2x80x248xe2x80x3xe2x80x9d into a place name, whether to convert the position information into xe2x80x9c◯◯ Inc.xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cOhta-kuxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cTokyoxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cJapanxe2x80x9d depends on the tastes of the respective users, but there is no proposal to meet this demand.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an image display apparatus capable of automatically converting absolute-position information into place-name information and displaying the same.
Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.